


yes, i got your letter

by northernroyal



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Closure, Essos, F/M, Inspired by Taylor Swift, Lyanna Stark Lives, Past Lyanna Stark/Rhaegar Targaryen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28496109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/northernroyal/pseuds/northernroyal
Summary: Lyanna receives a letter from a man she once thought she loved.yes, I got your letteryes, I'm doing betterit cut deep to know yaright to the bone
Relationships: Arthur Dayne/Lyanna Stark, Lyanna Stark/Rhaegar Targaryen
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	yes, i got your letter

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing

It was unexpected, the letter. Hand delivered in the dark of night. Her heart had beat faster as she noticed the familiar script in which her name was written. As she turned over the parchment, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the seal. It was the same one that lay broken on the roughly two dozen letters hidden under the floorboards back in Winterfell. Her fingers were trembling as she snapped it in half. She glanced back at the small house she now considered home. She could easily spot the rise and fall of the small boy's chest. The even rhythm told her the lad was asleep. The arm draped over his belly was attached to a man who was also deep asleep. After finding herself quite alone on the quiet farmland on which she now lived, she began to read.

_ Dear Lyanna _

_ Gods, even writing your name sends me back to the time when it was just us. I’m writing to you now not to force you out of hiding or dredge up memories of time past, but to bring peace to us both. In the years that have passed since I last saw you, spoke to you, held you, I have come to realize our love or maybe just my love for you was always fated to end in tragedy.  _

Seeing his words, words that once brought the young woman such hope, left her with disdain and … a little bit of guilt. They didn’t hold the same power, but they still made part of her feel small.

_ I never meant for things to turn out how they did. I can only guess how deceitful I must seem to you now. But if you only believe one thing that I write to you in this letter let it be that I truly believe that you, Lyanna Stark, are meant for greater things. Just maybe not here in Westeros. _

There’s an edge to his words that most wouldn’t be able to spot. But after months of secret words and a tower's worth of private conversations, Lyanna could almost hear the accusations of betrayal. The warning in the last line made her pause.

_ Tensions have been high as of late. I will spare you the details, but just know it will be some time before there is truly peace within the realm. Any further unrest could very well tear us all apart. So I must ask, plead with you really, to keep your distance. While it was not easy for me to find you, it can be done. If your brother somehow finds you too, please don’t return to Winterfell. I ask you this one last kindness. _

Lyanna scoffed as she was once again met with the prince’s utter arrogance. She knew he had once greatly underestimated the North, but to still have such little confidence in the northerns after four years past. Her younger brother, Benjen, had found her when Jon was still a babe. More like they found each other, she guessed. She had wanted to send a message to her brothers that she was still alive but she could not return. She knew how much the loss of a sibling had hurt her. She would not put her brothers through that again. She had been trying to get a messenger that was willing to travel to Westeros when she had spotted a familiar set of grey eyes. She had barely been able to keep her tears at bay as the young lad bound toward her. When they had finally reached each other he had pulled her off the ground in a bone crushing hug.

They spent hours talking, yelling, and crying before Benjen finally agreed that staying was the best thing for Lyanna. She had cried when he first held Jon. For a small moment in time she had her family back. But all things must eventually come to an end. After a moons pass, Benjen returned to Winterfell with a secret he would take to the grave.

She had been happy when Benjen found her, but now that Rhaegar had she felt uneasy. She truly hoped that he really did want her to stay away. But a part of her knew that the place that she now called home wouldn’t be for much longer. As of yet there was no mention of the child she shared with the prince. There was still hope that he had not learned of the boy's existence.

_ I sincerely hope you have found happiness. I hope Essos is everything you always dreamed of. I hope Arthur has kept you safe. I hold no grudge against him. If he is still with you, please tell him that for me. I gave him an order the last time I saw him, and if he is with you he has done nothing but keep his word to me. _

_ As this letter draws to a close, I must say one thing to try and assuage my own guilt. You must understand now that I would not have continued my pursuit of you if you had told me you did not want me. I know that my father escalated things more than they ever needed to but we were very much in things together. In the end, I am now able to see how it didn’t feel that way to you. _

_ Stay Safe, _

_ Your Prince _

Lyanna let the arm holding the letter drop to her side as she looked across the empty field and into the black sky. She let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. In a way it felt as though her world was ending and then starting anew over the course of one letter. Before the chill of the night could sweep over her, she felt a pair arms wrap across her middle and a chin land on her shoulder. A small smile appeared when she heard his sleep filled voice.

“Everything alright, love? It’s a bit late isn't it?” She could feel his smile as he nuzzled into her neck and pulled her body flush to his. She let out a sigh as he pressed his lips below her ear and then her neck and then her shoulder. She turned in his arms before he could continue.

“Everything is just fine.” She answered as she pressed her forehead to his. She would tell him of the letter later. Tomorrow, when the sun would rise on a new day. But right now she would enjoy what little time she had left in the place she had made into a home. 

She kissed the man who had been a father to her son, a loyal protector to both of them, and a constant companion to her. She knew now that what she had years ago with a young prince in a now far away kingdom was fake. Because it was nothing compared to the story of the lady and her knight. 

Now that was love.


End file.
